Card-holder for cars



(No Model.)

W. E. THURBER. CARD HOLDER FOR CARS.

No. 408,054. Patented July 30, 1889..

I i :4 1 5/ a v 7 IIIVVEIVTOR.

6 I Q I Q0. 7 71/0, Q ATTORNEK UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM E. THURBER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CARD-HOLDER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,054, dated July 30, 1889.

Application filed April 6, 1889- Serial No. 306,186. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLI M E. THUEEEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Holders for Cars; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to card-holders for cars, though its use is not necessarily limited to this purpose.

The object of the invention is to provide a device which will displace tacking in the attachment of cards to cars, and to provide means whereby such cards may be readily placed in position and firmly held, and as readily removed and replaced by others as occasion requires. Heretofore it has been the common practice, so far as I am aware, to attach cards to freightcars by means of tacks driven into the side of the car. It is Well known, of course, that freight and express cars generally are carded for information along the road, as with the destination of the car; the word Perishable, if fruits or the like are conveyed, an d with various inscriptions, according to the needs of the service. These cards must be attached and removed, and it requires men prepared in either case with the necessary tools to do the work. If it be to attach the cards, a man must be equipped with hammer and tacks, and in the cold and storm of winter this is by no means a comfortable task. IIaving reached its destination, the car must be gone over again and the cards removed by an implement suited to the purpose, or the card torn off with the tacks left remaining. In time the car becomes considerably disfigured by this repeated treatment, and muchtime is consumed in doing the work. I overcome this objectionable and expensive practice byproviding a card-holder into which the card can be placed in a moment and be as firmly held as by tacking, and from which it can be quickly removed, and all this without the use of any tool whatever, and of course without defacing the car, as otherwise occurs.

To this end the invention consists in a skeleton frame adapted to be pivotally attached to the car directly or to a board fastened thereon, and provided with a spring to press it against the car or board, substantially as shown and described, and particuhtrly pointed ont in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan view of my improved card-holder, and Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same on line a 03, Fig. 1.

In Fig. 1 is furnished a full-sized view of the smaller size of holder at present made and adapted to take the smaller cards. In addition to this I use two larger sizes to take eonsiderably-larger cards, and all three sizes maybe placed together on a car, so as to have the car properly equipped-in this particular; but as the principle of construction is the same in all sizes the illustration of one is deemed suiiicient. The needs of the service will tell how many each car had better be provided with, and a stock can be kept on hand to supply any extra demand.

As here shown, and as the invention is atpresent practiced, I make a skeleton frame A of wire, preferably in a single piece, and bent so as to be substantially rectangular in outline, with cross-bars a running diagonally across the frame to support the card toward the center. This frame, of course, may be varied in form; but the style shown serves the purpose admirably, as it not only holds the card flat against the body behind, but is so open as to offer no material obstruction to the printing on the card. Across the top of the frame and looped or woven into the same above and below, as seen at Z), are two hinged rods 0, which have loop-hinges 0, working on a spindle or rod D. This spindle is secured in straps E, fastened by screws or their equivalent to the side of the car, a sect-ion F of which is shown to better illustrate the invention. Stops (Z at the end of spindle D serve to prevent it from working out endwise. Of

course anything that will accomplish this result may be substituted for the stops. The hinge-rods O are given one full turn around the spindle, and their ends 0 project a short distance beyond the same to limit the backward movement of the frame, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2. If the frame has about the range of movement indicated in Fig. 2, it is sufficient, and the stops 0 are useful to prevent too great strain on the spring and to stop the frame at a point when it will be entirely convenient to introduce the card.

G represents the spring, which is shown as consisting of two separate wires coiled about the spindle D, from the center toward its ends, and having one end of the spring looped on the lower part of the frame A and the other end extended from the spindle and fastened to the car. Much, of course, depends on the strength and efliciency of the spring, and I have therefore elected the wire coil, rather than some other form which might not be equally effective in long-continued use; but, obviously, other styles of spring might be used, if preferred.

The hinge plates or straps are constructed to hold the spindle D somewhat apart from the base F, and the inner ends of the plates are bent at right angles at f, to form a stop and support for the card, so that the card is readily placed in proper position and alignment. A loop a is formed in the upper part of the frame, which is easily grasped by the finger of one hand, while the card is introduced or removed by the other hand.

On each of the hinge-rods are sharp teeth II. These teeth are arranged to engage the card in toward its center, and are preferably made of wire and of such length that they have the thickness of the wire in the part that extends through the card when the holder is down in position, while the sharp points project into cavities in the side of the car or the board to which the holder is attached. By making cavities to receive the points, and by using hard points, as steel, the points remain sharp through long usage. The teeth having the uniform thickness of the wire about their base the cards ride up on this part and are firmly held by the teeth even if the frame be drawn back, so that they will not fall or blow off when once engaged by the teeth and remain there until removed by hand. These teeth are shown as attached to the hinge-rods, but the place of attachment is not material nor is the number of teeth used.

When the frame of the holder bears against the side of the car, it lies perfectly fiat thereon, and the card is under pressure at all points of the frame as well as being held by the teeth, which pass entirely through it and operate in effect like so many tacks driven into the same. Obviously a card cannot escape from the holderwhen thus attached and must remain until'removed by hand. Of course the holder does not afford extra protection against mischievous or malicious removal of the card, but neither does tacking the card on the car. Any one who is inclined to interfere with cards will not discriminate between the methods of securing the same. Otherwise a card fastened by my holder is as safe as if secured by tacks in the old way.

If preferred, the stops or rests f may be made separately from the hinge-stems.

I am aware that it is not broadly new to make a spring-pressed wire-clamping frame provided with prongs for holding cards, and I do not claim to be the original inventor of such a frame; but I am not aware that a frame having the peculiarities of construction herein shown and described has ever before been known or used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A card clamp or holder consisting in the substantially rectangular frame A, having diagonal bars a and loops 1), all formed in a single piece, in combination with rods C, extending over the back of frame A and rigidly fastened in loops 1) and provided with loops 0, spindle D, on which the loops 0 are free to turn, forming a hinge for the frame, a spring, as G, to hold the frame A in working position, and tecth,as H, on the rods 0, all constructed and arranged substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM E. THURBER. Witnesses:

I. L. COREY, H. T FISHER. 

